Monahan takes Bruen’s ‘Boulevard’

Scribe to make directing debut on crime drama

William Monahan has teamed with Quentin Curtis to acquire rights to the Ken Bruen novel “London Boulevard.”

Monahan has nearly completed the script, and plans to make his directing debut on the crime drama this fall.

“London Boulevard” revolves around a South London criminal who, after release from prison, tries to give up the gangster life by becoming a handyman for a reclusive young actress.

Monahan will produce with Curtis, with whom he also acquired the John Pearson book “The Gamblers,” with Monahan planning to write that script for Warner Bros.

Monahan, who won the Oscar for writing “The Departed,” will adapt the remake of the Korean film “The Chaser” for WB and just signed with Paramount to write a fact-based thriller about a drug dealer who traded a prison sentence for an undercover stint.

That marks the first project under a first-look deal that Monahan made with “The Departed” producer Graham King, who’ll produce with Alexandra Milchan.

Curtis is a former MGM production exec who is developing several projects that include Fox 2000’s “The Jury” and Universal’s “Getty.”